Name: Plum Cakes
Ingredients: 4 oz stoned raisins; 4 oz well-washed and dried currants; 4 oz finely-chopped citron; flour for dusting

Why it works: Raisin and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Plum Cakes

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

4 oz stoned raisins
4 oz well-washed and dried currants
4 oz finely-chopped citron
flour for dusting

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Dust the raisins, currants, and citron with flour.
Mix all ingredients into a light batter.
Line one or two pans with paper.
Fill the pans with the mixture.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until cooked through.
Allow to cool before serving.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,075 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,180 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
Currant + flourtop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together8,077 recipes